The Kiss of Winter
by RunezEon
Summary: After the Pitch Incident the Guardians have a bit of trouble settling back into being boring background figures. Jack's fun seems to have effected them all, especially Tooth. As much as she loves her work the fairy can't get Jack off her mind, but he'd never care for her would he? Meanwhile, an unknown darkness watches waiting to act. M for safety;)
1. Chapter 1: Ruffled Feathers

**Chapter 1: Ruffled Feathers**

 _Hello! I'd admittedly never seen the movie Rise of the Guardians before a couple days ago, and after watching it I loved how much potential there was to write about the universe. I dunno how many people read for this, but I'm gonna write it anyway. I've got an outline hot off the press and I'm gonna put out these chapters at a (hopefully) decent pace._

 _If you enjoy what I'm putting out, PLEASE drop a review and tell me so. If you have any ideas, questions, advice, etc PM me or say so in the reviews. I SWEAR I read every single one. This chapter was a pretty long one, but I'm mostly happy with it so I think I'll strive to stay at this length. Love all you guys! I'm writing chapter 2 as soon as I make myself lunch and run some errands._

 _So without further ado, I give you... Err... I'll figure out what to name this you just get reading! :)_

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Toothiana was often recognized by her slim-yet-strong frame, sharp features, and sunny disposition, even for a fairy. Like all fairies she was covered in a thin layer of feathers that filtered through a vibrant spectrum of blue, green, and yellow. The only variation to this were the fanned golden feathers that hid her small pointed ears, and the singular golden plume that pointed skyward from her forehead. Tooth was what her people would refer to as a Sister of Flight, but that was just her name. Beyond that she was something far more important; Toothiana was, quite obviously, the Tooth Fairy.

"Sector 13, Hebei Province, 24 incisors, 21 molars, 17 canines, 14 premolars!" Sunlight dappled through the high windows of the Toothiana's hidden palace. Any other fairy might take a moment to feel the sun's warmth dance along her feathers, but not Tooth. In this place, Toothiana was Queen, and she took that job extremely seriously.

"Sector 2, Vietnam, 27 Incisors, 30 molars, 16 premolars, 18 canines!" The colorful Tooth Fairy Queen darted back and forth between the primary sorting pillar where the bulk of teeth went, and the registration pillar where new children who just lost their first tooth are assigned a tooth capsule. The atmosphere was humming with the usual bustle of never ending activity, her legions of miniature fairies coming and going constantly as business came down from it's peak for the day.

"Sector 7, Taiwan, 18 incisors, 19 molars, 15 canines, 11 premolars!" Vibrant colors danced stunningly throughout the curving pillars and rounded tiers of her high palace, but she was blind to it all, desperately trying to focus on her work. Toothiana was glad to be back to business as usual now that the Pitch incident was over, but truthfully, no matter how hard she tried, the routine just wouldn't settle back in. Nearly a month had passed, and everything had been cleared up for weeks now, but it still felt like just yesterday they were fighting for their lives. _More like Jack was fighting for_ _ **all**_ _of our lives._

She kept reciting the counts of teeth aloud as she worked, her sixth sense buzzing off in the back of her mind letting, her know whenever a new child lost a tooth. It wasn't necessary to rattle them off constantly, and the Fairy Queen knew it. Her fairies were after all, inextricably mentally connected to her, and that meant they could feel whenever a child lost a tooth as well. It was an old habit really, and one that she found soothing. A means of helping her focus and a relic of two hundred years in the field when she would spend long hours alone talking to herself.

Jack enjoyed teasing her about the habit from time to time, but she knew it was just him poking his usual fun. Perhaps that was why she couldn't settle back in, she was the utterly unable to get used to Jack being a new Guardian. Six hundred years of hard labor, and never had Toothiana been focused on anything but her work, until Jack had starting slipping into her mind...

Quite uncharacteristically, Tooth fell into silence as she continued to flit back and forth at dizzying speeds doing her work.

She had heard of Jack Frost before of course. A powerful embodiment of the forces of winter doesn't go unnoticed by magical creatures. Especially one that was described as being so dreamy, funny, and carefree. _And his TEETH!_ Tooth refrained from thinking about it, afraid of getting herself worked up.

However, no one had ever really enjoyed his company. From what she had heard, he was a notorious troublemaker who brought a whirlwind of mischief and chaos wherever he went. And while this wasn't necessarily untrue, now that she had met him Tooth knew that there was much more to Jack than this unfair judgement.

 _To think he spent three hundred years totally and completely alone…_ At least she had her fairies to keep her company as she worked. A pang of guilt smoldered in her chest, though she had no reason to feel guilty.

Although he was the biggest cause, Jack wasn't the only problem keeping Tooth from settling back in. Since the winter spirit had joined, something had changed between the Guardians. His 'fun' seemed to be contagious. Before Pitch's uprising, it had been over half a century since any of them had left their jobs long enough to even say hi to one another. Tooth had been utterly consumed by her work, and liked it that way. _Jack would never allow that now…_ In spite of herself, a ghost of a smile drifted across the sharp features of the fairy's face.

After Pitch had risen and she had met Jack, Tooth had come to realize how much she missed her friends. She certainly didn't want to go another five decades without seeing them. They were her family. A memory of Jack's half-smile floated through her thoughts. _Okay... Well maybe not_ _ **'family'**_ _..._ Tooth thought to herself. _Oh shut up, you talk too fast and are a workaholic. Even worse, you look like a bird! Jack would never even consider..._

The fairy Queen realized she had been hovering stationary for the past few minutes and that some of the other fairies were starting to stare. Blushing, she quickly went back to work minting a new tooth capsule.

Regardless, Toothiana certainly hoped that she'd be seeing her friends soon, and couldn't help but wonder what Jack was up to. This past month somehow felt longer than the past five decades, and she sorely missed them all, especially Jack. He had been dwelling in the Queen's mind ever since she'd finally gotten to meet him.

Behind Tooth, a familiar buzzing became distinct over the resounding chittering hum of the palace. As if the Man in the Moon had been listening to her thoughts, Baby Tooth zipped up to her as she was triple checking her list for the second time. The mini-fairy's voice whispered clearly in her head, sounding like the tinkling of tiny wind chimes. _'Your Highness, North has called the Guardians for a meeting now that everything is settled from the Pitch Black incident. He feels we must explain what being a Guardian entails to Jack.'_

A grin broke out of Tooth face and couldn't resist the urge to quickly do a flip to set her blood pumping. No more time for daydreams, it was time to go. For a moment the Tooth Fairy glanced about her shimmering palace. Normally she wouldn't dream of being so anxious to be out of here, then again, she hadn't felt normal for a while now. "Sounds wonderful! Let's get to it then!"

Baby Tooth could not contain her excitement to see Jack either, and a wide smile took over most of her face as she zipped after the leaving Toothiana with a chittering laugh. A trio of fairies on break spotted the pair and could only guess their reasons for leaving the palace. Giggling excitedly at a chance to see _THE_ Jack Frost, they raced along as well.

The tinkling voices of the fairies sounded off behind her as they zipped up alongside her. _'You're going to see Jack right?!' 'I can't believe our luck! What a time for our break!' 'Oh I wanna feel his hair!'_

Landscape blurred past below the flock of Tooth Fairies in a pastel of greens and blues, with the occasional glint of yellow sunshine in an inlet or lake. The display looked a bit like the fairies' own colors, and when they passed over the icecaps of the Alps, the greys and whites mixed in with the greens and blues.

Toothiana felt as if she could inhale the bright blue sky, and she wondered once again why she had ever stopped going out into the field. Many a fairy would consider Tooth the bookish sort, and to be fair they were right. However, nothing felt more natural or calming to her than drifting through the open sky and feeling the cool fresh air caress her feathers. A cool wind whispered over Tooth's feathers as they flitted over the Arctic ocean and quickly honed in on North's workshop.

His usual skylight was open as always, and the flock dropped through the opening and settled down in the center of the globe room. North and Sand were greeting Bunnymund, who by the looks of it had arrived moments before. The big man turned about at the sound of chittering wings and spread his arms in greeting.

"Ah! And here is being the lovely lady! Now we waiting only for Jack." Tooth shot him a friendly smile and gave a quick hug. Her small fairy frame barely managed to wrap halfway around the northerner's bulk, but it would have to do. North merely smiled, unable to hug her back due to her fluttering wings.

"Good to see you all again! I can't believe how much I missed you guys." She had barely finished replying when a soft wind snaked through the feathers of her back and sent and not-so-unpleasant chill down her spine. The flock of fairies turned as one to see Jack, staff in hand, shoeless as always, with his usual smirk on that perfect face. Tooth smiled dreamily while her fairies either squealed in excitement or batted their eyelashes. Baby Tooth wasted no time in zipping over and nestling in the crook of Jack's neck. The three others followed and settled along his shoulders and atop his head.

Jack couldn't help but grin even more wickedly than before, though he made sure not to move too abruptly and dislodge any of the fairies. "Uh, hey everyone."

"H-hey Jack." Toothiana was yanked out of her stupor by the embarrassment of how obviously her fairies displayed their feelings. "Get it together girls!" She scolded while quickly pulling herself together as well.

From across the room Bunnymund shouted. "Oi! There's the troublemaker now. I guess that means we can get this show on the road." North nodded before responding in his usual booming voice. "Yes! If everyone will be follow me to the party room, we start the road show."

The towering cossack led their group into the party room. There was a thick wooden table positioned adjacent a roaring hearth surrounded by six squat chairs that look sturdy enough to hold a yeti. Toothiana sat next to Jack, who leaned his staff against his chair and sat down while still covered in fairies. Once they were settled, North took charge of the meeting.

"Now Jack, it has been month since you are to be being a full guardian now yes?" Jack quickly nodded, already looking bored with the formality of this meeting. "Well, we never got to explain exactly what this is meaning. You are already knowing the dangers of children not believing in you, yes?"

The winter spirit nodded again, he could remember only too well. Images of Toothiana's palace crumbling to dust, her feathers being torn from her body, and her wings being too brittle and cracked to carry her played over in his mind. "Yeah… Yeah that part seemed pretty important."

Bunnymund picked up where North left off. "Aye, an' right now you've only got a handful of true believers mate. Sandy's put you in their dreams so they 'ave an inkling of what you are, but until they truly believe mate, your googie's shell's a bit thin."

"So what do I do? I spent three hundred years trying to get them to see me, you think I don't know it isn't just that easy?" Jack's tone got a bit defensive and Tooth felt a pang of sympathy. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder and spoke up before Bunnymund could continue.

"But it _is_ that easy now Jack. You've already got one kid who believes, that's the hardest part. Sandy has made the rest ready to believe in you, just do to them what you did to Jamie." She maintained her calm veneer and gave the boy an encouraging smile. He smiled back and her insides melted a little bit. "Thanks Tooth, I guess you're right. Spring is in full swing now though, I won't have very much room to move around for a while."

It was true, during the Spring and Summer much of the globe got too warm for Jack to hang about. In the past during the Summer he had retreated to the mountains, or the places far enough north or south to have the occasional summer blizzard. This half of the year was a very slow time for Jack.

"It's the off season for us, mate. Tooth an' Sand got year round work, but I'm just helping the flowers grow an' you an' North are in between your work."

"So what does that mean? I just... Sit around like before and herd the occasional snowstorm?" Tooth had been counting off new teeth in her head to avoid thinking too much about Jack, but the tone of his voice made her look up from the swirling wood grain of the table.

There was sadness... Despair. He had clearly been hoping that becoming a Guardian would mean that things would be different. He had been totally alone for three hundred years, and now that he finally had some friends, it was time to go back to being alone. A cool wind plucked at her feathers as Jack tried to contain his disappointment.

Silence lingered about the table and Baby Tooth snuggled up to Jack's neck. Sadness and sympathy flooded outward from Tooth's heart as she gazed concernedly at the man next to her. In the hearth on the opposite side of the table a fire crackled and hissed as if it were mocking him.

North pressed onward. "Once it is to be Fall for the Northern Hemisphere, you and I will get to work on making the children believe. Christmas and Winter go hand in hand, no?" The jolly Eurasian bellowed a great booming laugh, but Tooth kept looking at Jack.

 _That soft white hair... Those shocking blue eyes... The pale smooth skin..._ Being away from the palace meant Tooth's mind was free to wander, and as he eyes explored Jack's sharp, pale features her mind did just that.

 _From here, you might not even believe his skin is as soft as it looks..._ The small form of Baby Tooth snuggled even closer to his neck, using his hood as a blanket along with several of her sister fairies. The Queen felt a smolder of envy take root in her chest. _Why do they get to be so open and obvious, while I have to play the professional?_ The mini-fairies were connected to Tooth on a subliminal level, giving them her sixth sense for teeth as well as causing a level of emotional empathy with the Queen. Essentially this meant that whatever emotions Toothiana felt, her fairies were likely to feel it as well. In this case, it was her crush on Jack. However, subtlety was a bit beyond them, so they often ended up embarrassing Tooth to no end.

For a moment Toothiana's mind sunk deep into a fantasy. She imagined Jack and her laughing and darting between trees and hills. Settling down on a vast blanket of white. The snow felt soft beneath her, but cool like a breeze or Jack's skin rather than cold. She was a lone point of color in an endless plain of beautiful flawless white. Laying down next to him, her hands roaming over the skin under his hoodie. His cool hands sliding over her feathers like the whisper of a winter breeze. With a sigh she shook her head and wiped the star-struck look from her face.

 _Oh cut it out. You're so bad. He's..._ _ **Him.**_ _And you're just... Just_ _ **you.**_ _He'd never be into a ball of feathers. You're just a fluffy colorful busybody with an annoying voice. Besides you're barely four and a half feet tall._ Her brow furrowed as she grew angry with herself for the umpteenth time over her infatuation with Jack.

 _Why can't things be like when we were fighting Pitch? When things were too fast to worry about... This..._ As she drifted through her memories, Tooth recalled their time teeth gathering after the fairies had been kidnapped. When she and Jack had been alone in Jamie's room. The blissful quiet of just being alone together. Things had felt so close for that precious moment. She had been vulnerable, and he had been concerned for her. Being out in the field again had brought her back out of her shell.

 _Wait... Maybe that's it!_ The plume on Tooth's head stood up as she as an idea dawned upon her. She could invite Jack to go teeth gathering. That way she had no reason to feel guilty or bad for Jack, and he wouldn't feel so lonely. _Don't you get any ideas, this is... This is for a_ _ **friend.**_ _That's all._

"Something wrong Tooth?" Jack had his usual trouble-making smirk and Toothiana realized she had been staring at him this entire time.

She quickly sat up straight and began adjusting stray feathers that weren't there. "Oh! Er- Uh... No nothing at all I was just counting teeth in my head and zoned out a bit. Pardon me!"

The rest of the meeting had flown by while Tooth had been lost in her treacherous daydreams. North clapped his hands with finality and nodded to each of his friends.

"Well that is seeming to be all, so let us be meeting here again in two months, yes? The end of spring!" Everyone agreed that sounded like an excellent idea as they slipped out of their seats. Sandy soon stepped out, a preoccupied look on his face. _Was he staring at me for that entire meeting? It's not like Sandy to stare... No he must have been looking at Jack._ Bunny and North were busy debating the importance of their respective holidays, per usual. Jack twirled his staff and was lifted on the wind, and he and Tooth flew together toward the open skylight.

The wreath of fairies cuddling around his neck wailed their sorrow as they knew it was time to go. _Not quite yet though._

As they cleared the skylight it was quickly apparent that the meeting had lasted longer than they realized, stars glimmered throughout the arctic sky and the sunset was just a whisper of orange on the horizon. "So Jack, I eh... I had an idea I thought I'd run by you." Tooth was usually very good at wearing her usual upbeat attitude, but this was a bit odd for her. _Quit being so nervous, you're just making a kind offer to a friend that's all._

"Of course, what is it Tooth?" His usual smile was back, but she could still see the burden in his eyes of having to go back to being alone. He had no doubt figured being a guardian meant he wouldn't have to be alone anymore. Three hundred years of isolation was more than enough for him, but here he was going back once more. The thought pushed her determination in the plan forward.

"Well, I figured that... Seeing as you won't be too busy for the next few months…" The Queen's voice caught in her throat and she tried to mask it by pushing onward. "I mean, I just figured that three hundred years of being alone might have been quite enough for you, and I hadn't realized how much I missed the field... Maybe we could go teeth hunting once a week or so, that way you've got something to do until fall." She looked into those deep crystal eyes expectantly. The fairies around his neck had let go and were frantically flying about Jack's head chirping their desperate encouragement.

The smile on Jack's face suddenly became much more genuine and Tooth's heart fluttered even faster than her wings. "Well, sure that sounds like fun! I'd love to! As long as you promise to talk about more than the blood on the teeth." He laughed, and she did as well.

"Oh! That's great! Awesome! Thank you!-... I mean, um... See you tomorrow night! Come on girls!" Tooth decided the best course of action was to fly away as fast as possible before she made a fool of herself. Jack's laugh chased after her and the wind kissed her face and he flew the other way.

In her head the fairies' voices chimed away. _'Ugh, couldn't we just take him with us?' 'No fair! You mean you're gonna go out hunting with Jack and we'll have to keep on working?' 'I bet Baby Tooth will get to go'_.

"Oh hush all of you, it's just so he doesn't feel so lonely." It was a convincing lie, enough so that it even partially fooled her. The crisp blue sky was almost as beautiful as Jack's eyes. _Almost._ And the air around her seemed to vibrate with her own excitement. The fairies around her were much the same. Doing twirls and flips and giggling together. Tooth barely acknowledged the blur of the world beneath them as they flew toward home. _Yes!_

Finally she might be able to get some work done without worrying about the next time she'd be seeing any of the other Guardians. _Now you can stop being so damn childish._ In spite of herself Toothiana couldn't help but grin.

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 _Thanks for reading! Like I said PLEASE do not hesitate to leave a review or PM me if you so have the desire. Constructive criticism welcome. Your input feeds me._


	2. Chapter 2: Among Friends

_**Chapter 2: Among Friends**_

 _Thank you a thousand times over to everyone who has already followed/favorited and reviewed! I can never explain how much it means to get your feedback on what I've written. It's so helpful to get advice or even a simple thanks and encouragement to continue._

 _It took several proof reads to get this chapter to a place I was satisfied with. I wasn't expecting to take a full week, and I'll make sure it never takes longer than this to get a chapter out unless I give you guys a fair warning beforehand. Chapter 3 is up next! So you guys get reading and I'll get to work!_

 _As always, please don't forget to drop a review if you have advice, questions, or simply enjoyed the chapter!_

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Flying alongside Jack, you could swear that the wind had a mind of its own. Tooth could feel the air alive with energy, tugging playfully at the plumage that grew from around her waist, or skimming along her sides like dolphins in the ocean. The whistles and rushes of the air sounded almost like laughter, and it was contagious. On her left Jack smiled and laughed as he tumbled along on an updraft, and she giggled along with him.

Before she had left Toothiana had ensured that the shifts for tonight were prepared and running smoothly. Normally she wouldn't need to say anything, but with Baby Tooth coming along as well, there was no one in command at the palace. In any other circumstance, she might be worried, but it was impossible not to have fun around Jack. Baby Tooth was in her usual spot firmly planted on Jack's right shoulder, a place that Tooth secretly envied.

The last fingers of sunlight steadily slid below the horizon, leaving the world to bask in the soft glow of the moon and the thousands of stars scattered like dust across the sky. Far below them, the city of London was drifting to sleep as the Sandman's golden streams of dreamsand snaked throughout the city like rivers of light.

Tooth remembered how she had always waited for this moment, watching the glittering tendrils spread like a lattice over the world below, working in tandem with Sandy to be sure all the children were asleep before she got to work gathering the teeth. Out here in the open, her sixth-sense was stronger than ever. Each tooth was like a golden star shimmering through wood and stone, and the buzzing in Tooth's chest seemed to make her entire body tingle. _Or maybe that's Jack..._

An overpowering smile took over her face and the fairy couldn't help twirling and kicking her feet in excitement. "Ooooh, they're everywhere! Calling out, look how beautiful it is! One right there! Two molars in that building on the corner! Three canines in a row down the street!" The fairy bounced up and down in the air, practically shivering in excitement.

"C'mon Jack I can hardly wait! Good luck keeping up!" Without a second thought she zipped toward the nearest house, a right-outer incisor that twinkled from beneath a little girl's pillow.

Jack barely had time to blink and sputter a surprised laugh before bolting after her. He knew that the mischievous glint in her eye was a challenge. Honestly Jack was pretty sure he stood no chance in a contest of tooth hunting against her. Though to be fair, this is precisely what Toothiana had been created to do. Fluidly Tooth phased directly through the bedroom window glass as if it were not there and hovered at the foot of the bed. While the other Guardians had fancy magical powers that could help in combat or travel, Tooth had to rely mostly on her training and considerable intelligence. Other than her legions of miniature fairies, one of the main perks of her job was the ability to pass through any clear surface as if it didn't exist.

Unlike the Queen however, Jack was _not_ able to pass through clear surfaces, and so by the time the window creaked open Tooth was already deftly replacing the tooth with a quarter. She gave the sleeping child a warm smile before turning back to Jack with the same mischievous glint in her eyes. "Too slow, flyboy."

Jack chuckled, "Is a race what you want? Because I'll give you a race." Her smile was all the answer he needed, and suddenly the wind carried him back out the window and down the street toward the building on the corner. There was no way he'd win a race against her, well, at least not without a great deal of tomfoolery.

Tooth zipped past him in a blur of colors and laughter. She was nearly at the window of the building when Jack called up a gust of wind that blew her backward. The cyclone of air sent her tumbling through the sky as the boy slipped into the window that the fairy had targeted. In a flash he was back out in the night air and spotted Tooth frantically fixing her skewed feathers.

"Ugh! No fair!" She tried to shoot him a mean look but could barely contain her laughter. Toothiana could tell he was watching her, waiting for her next move so he could stop her with a gust of wind and have Baby Tooth lead him to the teeth. With shocking speed she darted left before he could react and was through a window. Jack almost attempted to bolt after her, but the miniature fairy of his shoulder began tugging his hood. The boy and turned and bolted after Baby Tooth as she led the way to a different house.

The pair zipped from building to building throughout the city in a flurry of cold wind, chittering wings, and snowflakes. Jack would manage to get the occasional jump on Tooth but there was really no contest. In what felt like no time at all they had covered their entire sector of the city. Tooth had designated sections of certain cities in the western hemisphere that her fairies would leave to her and Jack. Finally the pair met again when they nearly ran into each other flying over a four way intersection. Both of them looked simultaneous down the long stretch of street to their left at the final tooth in the city. In the blink of an eye they were racing at breakneck speed for the last house.

Toothiana had called it out from a mile away. "Left premolar! Third floor up! Last house on the street!" Late night traffic blew past on the streets below them in a streak of lights and sound. Their constant laughs drifted on the wind behind them as Jack continually tried to gust Tooth out of the way. The Queen dove and ran into him with a playful shove. "Oh no you don't!" Finally, with the building mere feet in front of them Jack reached deep within himself pulled a wall of air and snow up in front of the fairy, blasting her backward and straight into him.

"Uh-oof!" Was all he had time to say before the two were sent spinning through the air completely out of control. They landed on a building across the street, both still laughing and too dizzy to move. Toothiana blinked to clear the stars from her eyes and found herself gazing down at Jack beneath her. His hair was a ruffled mess, as were her feathers, and she burst into laughter again. A few minutes passed that way before she finally caught her breath and it hit home that she was straddled on top of Jack. He gazed smugly up at her and she quickly floated several feet up into the air, trying to hide her blush while fixing her feathers for what may have been the millionth time since the night began.

Jack coughed and sat up, still smiling. "Sorry about that, I guess I got carried away." That adorable smirk was still on his face and Tooth felt her own face heat up even more."No, no, that's alright we both did." Finally satisfied with her feathers, the fairy looked back up and fixed Jack with an 'I'm okay' smile.

Before either of them could say any more, a flurry of honking and shouting emanated from the street below. The pair's eyes grew wide as they dashed to the edge of the apartment building. In the streets below a massive snowdrift had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and it was completely blocking the street in front of the building they had been racing toward. People were climbing from their cars that were nearly buried in snow and gazing bewildered at the sky.

"Oops..." Was all Jack could manage. Tooth nodded in agreement, a bit dumbstruck by how much power Jack could use simply by accident. Before she could respond, a light fluttering sound drifted to her ears and they spotted Baby Tooth zipping out of the house with the final tooth in hand. Jack opened his teeth bag and the fairy dropped it in. They had both brought along a bag to carry the teeth that they collected, and while Jack and Baby Tooth had tried their hardest, Tooth's bag was still almost twice the size of their own. Toothiana shook her fist and joked accusingly. "You little traitor." They both laughed again and the Queen rubbed her cheeks that ached from smiling so much.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Jack's eyes dropped to the ground and he shifted uncomfortably. "We should probably get out of here."

"Yeah, the fairies will have gotten all the other teeth in the city by now." Seeing that Jack was a bit embarrassed with the mayhem he had caused, she put a hand on his shoulder and gave him an encouraging look. This wasn't that different from the troublemaking he usually caused, but when it could potentially mess up Tooth's job… It was different. "Don't worry about it, nobody got hurt. Besides, the night is still young and we've got two more continents to worry about in our shift!"

It was true; the tooth fairy shifts were split up according to eastern and western hemispheres. The first shift covered Australia, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Eastern Africa while second shift covered Western Europe, Western Africa, and the Americas as night swept across the globe. This meant there was a slight overlap in shifts where first shift had yet to return from the field and second shift was leaving, which left very few fairies at the palace and was usually when Toothiana caught a bit of sleep.

Today was not a usual day however, and that meant she had a shift just like all the other fairies. The sectors her and Jack had taken were quite a bit larger than the other fairies, but that was because they could each carry more than one tooth at a time.

Sitting on that London rooftop, the few stars that peeked through the city's lights glimmered distantly, and the moon's soft glow bathed them both in pale light. Even in this darkness, Jack's perfect teeth glinted as his brilliant smile returned. Tooth resisted the incredible urge to pull his mouth open and examine them. "I guess you're right. Where's the next stop then?"

"Your hometown, where else?" Tooth dazzled Jack with a winning smile before twirling excitedly and zipping up into the night sky. The boy shook his head and drifted up after her. It was hard to believe someone so energetic had been locked up in her palace all this time.

Soon the north atlantic ocean was blurring past beneath them, accompanied by the soft whispering of the tide and fresh salty fragrance of the ocean breeze. Out of the corner of her eye Tooth saw that Baby Tooth had fallen asleep inside of Jack's hood. _That slacker, but can I really blame her?_ If she had the opportunity to be carefree like the mini-fairy, to sleep on Jack's shoulder and feel him so close to her... Tooth banished the thought, it was no time for daydreaming.

 _Just talk would you? Don't make things weird._ "Flying out here under the night sky, the smells and sounds of the world all around us, it's so beautiful..." The fairy spread her arms, gesturing to the wide world around them as she turned fully to look at Jack, stars twinkling in her eyes. "Sometimes I almost envy you, you know." Frost looked at her with an incredulous expression. "You, the Queen of the Tooth Fairies, envy me? Why do you say that?"

"Being able to wander through all this beauty, no direction, no urgent jobs to get to..." Tooth truly loved her job, and nothing could ever change that, but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to not have something to worry about every hour of every day. After all, it's always night somewhere, and that means there's always teeth to be collected.

"But you love teeth. And you could just have a shift like all the other fairies, why'd you stop doing that?" Jack was genuinely curious. He knew little of the exact history of any of the guardians, and the Tooth Fairy was especially obscure.

"I love my job, and I love all the teeth... Eventually there just got to be so many teeth to collect and fairies to collect them that someone had to be in charge at the palace. That was almost four and a half centuries ago." Below them Tooth saw a pair of dolphins skimming through the waves, twirling and touching as they raced side by side. She stared at the couple of playful creatures as she spoke on.

"I didn't really mind all that much. I had taken the thrill of being on the job for granted, I see that now. Even then though, I don't think I ever would've left the palace were it not for you..." Tooth looked back up from the creatures to Jack. An occasional snowflake drifted along on the wind beside him as they flew. She looked away as a flush of heat came to her face. "You brought back the fun, not just for the children, but for all the other guardians as well. We were all too focused on the job to realize we should be enjoying ourselves."

"Hah, well I guess you're welcome then." Jack chuckled lightly and pointed ahead as the ocean racing past beneath them gave way to land. "Looks like we're almost at stop number two."

Wet springtime air left a shimmering coat on the grass as they touched down side by side on the half-frozen pond that Jack had come to call home. It was here that he had drowned over three hundred years ago. Where the moon had taken him from the doorstep of death and made him into Jack Frost. A spider's web glimmered with dew in the crook of a tree overlooking the lake, little pinpoints of its multiple eyes burning through the calm night. Tooth shuttered and directed her focus on Jack. There were few things in this world fairies didn't delight in, but they almost universally _hated_ spiders.

Jack's white hair shone like the frost on the grass. An absent smile on his face as he stared up at the moon. _How can one face have so many different smiles?_ Tooth tilted her head curiously and Jack saw her out of the corner of his eye, he turned his smile to her. "You know, this past month has been the first time in three hundred years that I didn't hate the Man in the Moon for making me Jack Frost… I just wanna say thank you."

Toothiana was unsure what to say, hating the Man in the Moon seemed so outlandish to her. Without thinking she reached out and draped her arms around the winter spirit, pulling him into a hug. After a moment of shock, he hugged her back, tilting his head down into her feathers and feeling the tall plumes on her forehead tickle his face. As the boy inhaled he smelled the flowery aroma of the fairy's feathers. Tooth was more than a full head shorter than Jack, and she breathed deeply as her slender arms squeezed his frame. He smelled like winter, if winter had a smell that is. _This is nice..._

A few moments of silence drifted between them with nothing but whispers of night to interrupt the peace. In a moment of panic Tooth realized she may have overstepped her bounds and quickly pulled away. _What was that? What am I doing?_ She ignored the rapid beating of her heart, "No, thank _you_ for coming Jack, no one should be forced to be alone for so long." Swirls of ice kicked up from the surface of the frozen lake as she floated up to his eye level. "Now let's get to work, shall we?"

The night was serene and for the thousandth time Tooth was reminded how much she had missed her days of hunting teeth below the stars. Drifting from house to house, Toothiana led the way as they wound through the neighborhood. Wisps of her breath curled in the cold air each time the fairy exhaled. The cold didn't bother her through her feathers, it even felt refreshing. _It almost feels the same as giving Jack a hug. Almost._

Attempting to drown her nerves, the Queen chattered continuously about collecting teeth and how the past four hundred years of her life had been organized, pausing only to slip through a window and exchange a tooth. Jack listened intently and Tooth realized this was the longest a single person had ever talked to him; she also realized how much she missed talking to someone other than her fairies. There was no doubt that she loved her girls, but they often knew what she was thinking before she said it, which made conversation a bit hard. "You know how much I missed getting out of the palace." She sighed and slipped through a window, unlatching it from the inside for Jack.

Jack laughed softly as the window creaked open and he stepped carefully over the windowsill. Delicate ferns patterns of frost swirled over the glass where Jack's hand touched it. "Of course, but I should really be thanking you. I'd be back to drifting the world alone if you hadn't invited me. That means a lot..."

The fairy's cheeks reddened a bit, though she was certain Jack couldn't see in the low light. "Thank the Man in the Moon for that, he's the one who chose you to be a Guardian…" The boy waved his hand toward the moon dismissively. "Maybe he did, but you're the only one who invited me anywhere. He would've left me to myself."

A faint clicking sound kept Tooth from answering and she dove for the open closet as the child's room filled with light. Jack was caught by surprise and blinked rapidly to adjust to the bright light. Tooth watched from her perch on a shelf high in the closet as Jack froze in place, an awake child looking directly at him. _Through him,_ she realized. As the kid slowly scanned the room looking for whatever had woken him up, Jack realized it as well. Suddenly the child hopped out of bed and walked to his closet, and directly through Jack. Tooth winced as the spirit stumbled, but she remained still until the kid left the room.

Fluttering back to the floor, Tooth quickly zipped to the bed and exchanged a gift for the tooth before checking on Jack. Being phased through is an unpleasant feeling, like having the air knocked from your lungs. "You okay Jack?"

He nodded and she tugged on his sleeve as Baby Tooth crawled out from beneath his hood yawning. "Alright well then let's get out of here." Tooth led him back out the window and the three of them flew down the street.

Steadily cheerie air returned and Tooth kept jabbering on about everything under the sun, with occasional input from Baby Tooth. Though they were more cautious when collecting teeth than previously.

Hunting seemed secondary to talking to Jack, though he rarely responded. An occasional joke or story came to mind that he would tell, but three hundred years alone creates a habit for silence that becomes hard to break. After they were finished with their stop in North America, it was time for their final sector in Santiago, Chile.

Tooth was rather fond of South America. The landscape reminded her a lot of the area around her palace, but even more beautiful. The atmosphere could change from tropical jungle to mountainous grassland as seamlessly as her feathers changed from blue to green. As they passed over the equator, Tooth could tell that the heat was getting to Jack, and so they flew higher where the atmosphere was colder until they reached their destination.

Gathering teeth throughout the apartments of the city proved blessedly uneventful. Finally, with the final tooth exchanged and bagged, they set down their heavy sacks on the roof of a highrise. Sunrise was nearly upon them, and bands of brilliant radiance stretched across the mountains to the east.

Toothiana's eyes glimmered in the pinkish orange light. She was stunned by the beauty, no matter how many times she saw it. Rings of light seemed to be drawing the mountains up into a warm, colorful embrace. The contrast of icy peaks against the rising sun crisscrossed the city in golden light and blue-black shadows.

Feet dangling in the wind, they sat on the end of a tall skyscraper planted firmly on the jagged line between light and shadow. Tooth felt a soft movement, and looked down to see she was holding Jack's hand. The ghostly pale of his skin and blue-grey of his jacket contrasted against the sky blue and deep green of her feathers. She pulled her hand away, a bit too quickly, and folded her hands nervously in her lap.

Baby Tooth was still transfixed on the sunset. The Queen's palm tingled like it had been dipped in ice water, or set on fire. _Or both?_

"This was nice, right?" She wasn't sure whether it was a statement or a question. _I swear, every day you have less control of your emotions. Get yourself together!_

"Yeah, it was. So we'll do this again next week, right?" Jack grinned at her and his teeth glinted in the sun as it crested the horizon. "I mean… It's up to you…"

In a moment of weakness Toothiana nearly reached out and tried to touch his teeth. _God they're so… "Perfect…"_ She stuttered and quickly corrected herself as she realized she had said that aloud. "I mean… Yes! Of course! It would be good for both of us. Sorry, your teeth hypnotized me for a moment."

Jack chuckled and treated her to a toothy dazzling smile that nearly made Baby Tooth faint. They both burst into laughter as the tiny fairy collected herself.

Suddenly Tooth's laugh became a massive yawn; she hadn't realized just how exhausting the night had been. "Well the sun is up, I should be getting these teeth back to the palace to be sorted." Jack nodded, knowing better than to offer help. When it came to managing teeth, Queen Toothiana demanded to oversee every step of the process.

Baby Tooth made a theatrical display of her sadness that she had slept through nearly the entire night, but made to follow Tooth home nevertheless.

The fairy remembered something at the last moment, and called over her shoulder at Jack. "Oh! And no need to tell the others about this right? Something tells me Bunnymund wouldn't exactly approve…" Even from the opposite side of the building, Tooth could see Jack's smile as he called back.

" _Especially_ not Bunnymund."

* * *

 _Thank you again for reading chapter two! If you think it can/should be improved, have advice, or just liked it, please tell me so!_


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